Santan Quarterly Report
December 2015
Keep Calm & Storm On!
Letter from the "Editor"... Mrs. Kowalinski
Dear Santan Parents & Students:
This is such a wonderful time of year. We have so many festive things to look forward to this month with choir, band, orchestra concerts, play-off games and our winter break. Gift Card orders are being taken through the front office. We have many gift cards on hand for your shopping convenience. Some of the SJHS favorites include: Harkins, Subway, Walmart, Chipolte and our Fry’s reloadable card. For each card sold, our school benefits up to 15% of the total price. Gift cards are redeemable for the full amount at ANY store! Thank you for helping with this fund raiser.
A heartfelt thank you to Helena Kaucheck, Booster’s President, and Marci Cooper, Booster’s Treasurer, for their hard work this semester. We are about to make some Chrome Books purchases for our students. A thank you receipt will be mailed to each participating family. As parents, your generous contributions afforded us this opportunity. Thank you for helping us reach closer and closer to our goal!
Thank you for all the parents who have written me to complement our school and the hard work of our teachers and staff. I send those positive notes to the teachers as I receive them and it adds pleasure to their day! We appreciate your feedback and support regarding our amazing school.
Happy Holidays to all of our families! Although this quarter takes us closer and closer to the end of the month, please try to plan your vacation time around the school calendar so it optimizes your child’s learning time in class. The two full weeks should provide you and your family quality time to venture out into the mountains, snow and relatives in other states. I hope your holidays are safe and prosperous. We will look forward to your return on January 5th, 2016! Merry Mistletoe and Happy Holly!
Educationally yours,
BJ Kowalinski, Santan Jr. High Principal
CALLING ALL STORM FAMILIES...
Mia McPoland is a seventh grade student here at Santan. She was diagnosed at six weeks old with a rare illness called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, a rare blood disorder that prevents her bone marrow from producing red blood cells. Mia receives red blood cell transfusions every three weeks at Cardon Children’s Medical Center and has endured over 133 blood transfusions --Thank you United Blood Services. Mia's only hope for a cure would be a bone marrow transplant via Be The Match.
Be The Match & United Blood Services – will be here at Santan Junior High on Monday, December 14th, in our gymnasium from 2pm – 7pm. Ask friends and family to donate blood (you must be 18yoa) by signing up now on our website at www.cusd80.com/sjhs . No appointment needed for a simple ‘cheek swab’ for a possible marrow match and an addition to the registry.
We are hoping that all Santan families can make a donation to Be The Match in Mia’s honor. We have set our school goal at $5,000. This equals $3.60 per student and would pay for 50 potential matches to be added to the Be The Match registry.
· Donate online with a credit card directly to Be the Match through the SJHS website www.cusd80.com/sjhs
· Cash or check donations will be accepted in the front office or you can turn it in directly to your 3rd hour teacher, checks payable to Be The Match.
EVC CHAMPIONS!
CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH CALENDO & THE 8TH GRADE SOFTBALL TEAM, COACH HARTWIG & THE 8TH GRADE BASKETBALL TEAM, and COACH PLONA & THE 7TH GRADE BASKETBALL TEAM ON THEIR CHAMIONSHIP WINS.
Softball played Newell Barney and the final score was 6-0
7th Basketball played Payne Junior High and the score was 47-32
8th Basketball played Anderson Junior High and the score was 34-22
Congratulations also go out to Coach Saadi, Coach Mesquita and the 7th grade Softball team on their great season! They played Bogle Junior High for the championship and lost by one run.
CONGRATULATIONS to the BOYS CROSS COUNTRY TEAM!! The girls came in a very close second place to Payne Junior High. Thank you to COACH CONRAD & COACH LANTGEN and all our student runners for a great season!
GREAT SEASON EVERYONE!!!!
GIVING TREE PROJECT
SANTAN CHEER
Chandler Education Foundation Winners Choice Car Raffle
The Chandler Education Foundation is pleased to announce its 2016 Winner’s Choice Car Raffle. The winner will have a choice between $20,000 in cash or up to $27,000 towards the purchase of 2016 Toyota vehicle of your choice. The raffle drawing will be held on March 4.
Participants who purchase tickets before midnight on December 14, 2015 will be eligible to be entered into two Early Bird drawings. All early bird winners will have their stubs placed back in the drawing for the grand prize drawing on March 4, 2016
EARLY BIRD DRAWING DATES: 12/15/15 & 1/5/16
Tickets are $20 and are available in the SJHS office
BOOSTERS FUN RUN
Chandler School Boosters is hosting a 5K Run/Walk on January 24, 2016 at Perry HS. The proceeds will be used to lower the CSB tax bill that all schools incur. Please consider bringing your family out for this extremely fun event to benefit a great cause!
To register: Register today at raceroster.com search for “Chandler Schools.”
To be a vendor/sponsor: Click here to download the vendor application.
AIMS & AZMerit Testing...
Please mark your calendars for AIMS Science Testing and AZMerit testing days. Please DO NOT schedule any personal days, appointments, etc. on these days as it is extremely important we have all certified staff here. Of course, life gets in the way, so if you know of something that will prevent you from being here, please let us know so we can plan for your absence. In addition, no field trips should be planned during these days. The testing dates are as follows:
Tuesday, March 29th – ELA Writing
Wednesday, March 30th – ELA Reading Part 1 and 2
Thursday, March 31st – Math Part 1 and 2
Friday, April 1st – Make-Up Testing
Wed., April 13th – 8th Grade only AIMS Science Test
EOC Testing dates to come for Alg. I, Geometry and Alg. 2.
RED RIBBON WEEK
AZMERIT STATE TESTING RESULTS
By now you should have received a report on your child’s AzMERIT assessment results from the spring of 2015. This assessment is administered by the Arizona Department of Education and required by the United States Department of Education through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001.
The results of this exam are different from the previous state standardized assessment. Due to the increased expectation placed on student learning in the Arizona Career and College Readiness Standards, fewer students achieved the highest performance distinction throughout the state of Arizona. In fact, for every two students that scored “exceeds” on the previous AIMS examination, there is only one student that scored “highly proficient” on the new AzMERIT exam.
For a student that moved from the highest scoring category on AIMS to the second highest score category on AzMERIT, the conclusion should not be that less learning has occurred. In fact, even though a student has lower overall performance on AzMERIT in comparison to AIMS greater learning gains might have occurred in the most current school year. The increased expectations are causing the lower overall performance and are telling us that this student still has room to grow with respect to the standards learned.
Santan Junior High School takes pride in servicing the learning needs of every child. Our mission is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be lifelong learners and responsible citizens. The AzMERIT results are just one piece of data that provide information on accomplishing our mission for your individual student.
Did you know that Santan is an AVID school?
AVID is a fourth- through twelfth-grade system to prepare students for four-year college eligibility. It has a proven track record in bringing out the best in students, and in closing the achievement gap. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination.
AVID targets students in the academic middle – B, C, and even D students – who have the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. Typically, they will be the first in their families to attend college, and many are from low-income or minority families. AVID pulls these students out of their unchallenging courses and puts them on the college track: acceleration instead of remediation.
Santan Junior High’s cafeteria has recently been decorated with a variety of inspirational pennants with some of our favorite colleges and universities. We are proud to be an AVID school!
3RD QUARTER SPORTS
Tryouts begin Wednesday January 6-Tuesday January 12.
For tryout times, see the calendar on the Santan website
Upcoming Dates to remember....
- Dec. 9 - 6th CATS & STEM parent orientation in the junior high café 6:00pm
- Dec. 11 - ZAP Day!
- Dec. 14-17 - SPIRIT WEEK
- Dec. 14 - Be the Match Blood Drive in the gym 2:00-7:00pm
- Dec. 17 - Last day for students
- Winter Intersession - 12/18/15-01/4/16
- Jan. 5 - Students return
- Jan. 6-12 - 3rd Qtr. Sports Tryouts (see school website for times)
- Jan. 18 - NO SCHOOL Martin Luther King Jr Holiday
IMPORTANT RESOURCES
DISTRICT CALENDARS
This page includes school calendars (currently up to the 2018-2019 school year) which are updated immediately after any changes are made by the Governing Board. State and district testing calendars are added here as they are created and updated.
http://www.cusd80.com/calendar
SCHOOL HANDBOOKS & COURSE CATALOGS
This pages includes links to the school handbooks for ALL of our schools. It also includes the CTE course sequence and all high school course catalogs.
http://www.cusd80.com/handbooks
SCHOOL BOUNDRY MAPS
This pages includes the boundary maps for elementary, junior high, and high schools. If there are changes or proposed maps available for public comment, these would be linked here as well.
http://www.cusd80.com/boundaries
OPEN ENROLLMENT
This page guides the visitor through completing both elementary and secondary open enrollment applications.
http://www.cusd80.com/openenrollment
SCHOOL MENUS
This link goes directly to the CUSD Nutrition department's page with the meal menus for ALL of our schools.
TAX CREDIT
This page guides elementary families, secondary families and community members through making tax credit contributions. (Note that this page is ALREADY linked at the top right of every single page in your website.)
http://www.cusd80.com/taxcredit
SCHOOL COUNSELORS
- 7th Grade Counselor: Carolyn Standifird standifird.carolyn@cusd80.com
- 8th Grade Counselor: Wendy Brewer brewer.wendy@cusd80.com
Santan Junior High School Phone Contacts
Attendance Line 480-883-4603 (use this # to call your student out or late)
Office 480-883-4600
Registrar 480-883-4631
Student Services 480-883-4610
Café 480-883-4604
Santan Junior High School
Barbara Kowalinski - Principal
Mary Ann Rezzonico - Assistant Principal/Athletic Director
Andy Morgan - Dean of Students
Email: peart.susan@cusd80.com
Website: www.cusd80.com/sjhs
Location: 1550 E. Chandler Heights Rd.
Phone: 480-883-4600